Government giveth, and it taketh away. They get it from the Bible. So why is anyone shocked about dismantling the Affordable Care Act (passed during the Obama administration and referred to as Obamacare)? Our Government has a history of creating social and education programs—even lofty science ones like NASA—and then eroding or removing them through budget cuts, often when a new administration comes to power.
Back in the 1960s, old-timers tell of the Republican fight against Medicare and Medicaid. But since then, generations have forgotten all the fuss. Today not a single elderly person or the poor and disabled and disenfranchised and, well, everyone living in the middle and lower classes would want to see a single dollar cut from these programs. [Medicaid might take up less than 5% of the federal budget while Medicare is close to 30%. The military is around 15% while education funding is not even 5%.]
A quarter of a century before Obamacare, our federal government looked into passing universal health care, whereby no one would be rejected or dumped by an insurance company due to circumstances such as pregnancy (or just being a woman of child-bearing age), chronic health ailments and pre-existing conditions, or a previous cancer battle. The Clinton administration tried and tried and tried to get something passed along the lines of universal health care—like every modern country provides its citizens except the good ol’ USA. The President’s wife, First Lady Hillary Clinton, was appointed to lead the charge and instead found through round-table discussions with physicians, insurance companies, hospitals and pharmaceuticals, no one could or would come to a consensus. Issues of conflict centered on lowering health care and prescription costs, cutting a physician’s salary basically in half, and increasing insurance rates to expand coverage. There could be no compromise.
Higher ideals
During the Bernie Sanders’ campaign, I learned of an era before my time, 50 years ago or so, when Uncle Sam would pay tuition of any American attending a public university or college. How kind of our government leaders in those bygone days, how unified they were for the common good: ensuring fellow Americans a college education. It had to do with the American Dream of the house, the car, the summer vacation—in short, pulling folks financially decimated by the Great Depression into the middle class.
When I chose to go to college in 1981, the times had changed. America was on edge with a rough, punk attitude. No one cared about anybody. Recession and inflation were common daily language, which for a high school kid left little hope for optimistic dreams or a brighter tomorrow. Those of us growing up in that gloomy era understood government could not help us. Don’t even ask. Nevertheless, I did.
I received a federal student loan to cover my first year of college, plus I took on a couple of part-time jobs. During my college years under the Reagan administration, budget cuts greatly affected government assistance for college. By my second year, I was eligible for only half the loan amount with triple the interest. Later I received a federal Pell Grant (thank God) and was eligible for college work-study. Throughout the remainder of college, the Pell Grant was cut in half year after year, though it always covered tuition. Incredulously, during my final year of college, I no longer qualified for work-study. What kind of crazy government policy was that? Reagan seemed to support kids working their way through college.
Other college students had government assistance taken away, too, affecting their plans and aspirations. One student was on the GI Bill, having been a Vietnam-era veteran but not one that saw combat. That was the new hitch in trying to balance the federal budget, I suppose. Another college friend had to leave when Social Security could no longer afford it. The government program used to provide a college education for youth whose parent or parents were deceased.
Those programs benefited millions of Americans until funds were cut. Education programs like those could only help our nation and future generations. The Social Security fund for college came from President Johnson whose programs and purpose was to ensure that any American who wanted to go to college ought to be able to do so. I grew up with that mindset, a natural assumption (maybe because I am an American) that I could go to college even if my parents could not afford it. I was grateful for the federal government supporting young people to achieve a worthy goal and a bright future for all.
Here we are today. Our federal government and millions of Americans do not support tax dollars funding a college education. Not only do we have a generation of college grads who cannot pay off their loans in their lifetimes, we have the same generation and younger disbelieving in college as the only way they can get ahead in life even if they are living in poverty. They are affected by negative government, family, TV shows, movies and pop culture with sarcastic online references that play down a college degree as making any difference. This cynical worldview has penetrated school kids who do not see the benefit of education or even a high school diploma.
Here’s the truth: Work options for people with a degree are much better than the vast number of jobs that do not require higher education whether from college, trade school or military training. Here’s another fact: Businesses desperately need workers at every level who can read, write, calculate and think to make quick assessments and decisions ON THEIR OWN. And businesses continuously lack the kind of employee who is overall intelligent, self sufficient and well rounded. For decades businesses have complained workers with only a high school diploma or less are not smart enough to keep up with technology.
Government budgets reflect what’s important to people already in power. It’s up to us Little People to let Washington know: We know how our tax dollars are spent, how the budget is divided, and what the government’s priorities are—because we know what used to be important back when America was great indeed.